From the Eyes of a Penguin: Linux Uses and Wows

An operating system is the flavor, personality, and structure of a computer. For most machines, Windows and Macintosh make up the functional aspect of how a user views the world.

One of the first operating systems in the world was invented and entitled Unix. It was implemented under AT&T's Bell Labs in 1969 for a 1970 release. To this day, Unix still functions as the foundation for both Macintosh and another lesser known, yet quickly growing, operating system that could: Linux.

Linux, for the most part, is an open source operating system that is free of charge. It comes in a variety of flavors. The most common Linux distributions include Ubuntu, RedHat, Fedora, Mint, and Debian.

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Practical and Powerful Uses for Linux

Linux has a host of benefits.

• For starters, Linux can be run completely off of a USB thumb drive. In fact, you won't even need a hard drive to run the Linux operating system with success. The entire OS will load from a thumb drive.
• Linux has its own free counterpart for high-quality software. Linux is capable of hosting an entire music studio, 3D graphics rendering, and web development tools. These capabilities are just the start of what Linux is capable of in terms of software. Updates are given on a regular basis for free open source software.
• Linux may save your digital life. If your computer fails, you may still have access to the hard drive if you have a thumb drive or live CD of Linux available. Upon inserting the thumb drive or CD the user can locate the hard drive within Linux and recover any files before re-installing Windows or Mac. In some cases, this could make or break the loss of extremely important files.
• Linux is also less prone to violent attacks from trojans and viruses, thanks to the Unix programming underneath the hood of Linux.

Linux Has Capacity to Wow

• Create a Home Server that has the robust stability of a more expensive server. The home server can function as either a media server or secure server for sharing files. The cost of a setup such as this may be less than $50 by using open source content such as Ubuntu Home Server or home media servers such as Media Tomb and Wizd
• Despite what may be rumoured, Linux can emulate a Windows environment as well as provide support to Windows projects. There are several key things to consider before switching from Windows to Linux. There are several comparisons that can be made between Linux and Windows.
• Windows has an installation package that is searched through individual third-parties while Linux uses a package manager for finding all the software available to Linux in one browser window.
• Linux has a completely interchangeable graphical user interface. All core areas can be completely changed. In fact, your installation of Linux can look radically different from the installation of someone else, even if it is the same operating system. This allows Linux users to have an extremely customizable experience.

Finally, there are several questions you will need to ask if you are migrating from Windows to Linux. These include the willingness to learn new commands, what distribution will work well, and compatibility for Windows emulation on files that require it.

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This article was written for CPU Inc by Lexy Mulheim. CPU Inc provides computer storage and backup solutions for every situation.